Various safety devices are typically found in a passenger vehicle to provide protection to occupants of the vehicle. Such safety devices may include seat belts for restraining seated occupants, foam bolsters in doors, air bags in instrument panels and seats, air curtains in doors and headliners, and other like devices. Air bags and curtains are typically stored behind interior panels in an uninflated condition and, in certain vehicle impact events, the air bags displace the adjacent interior panel out of the way as they inflate to cushion a vehicle occupant.
However, such safety devices may not be suitable in all vehicle applications for use in protecting vehicle occupants. For example, current safety devices are assembled within or behind existing vehicle structure and, thus, are not integrated into existing vehicle interior structure, such as interior door panels. Also, present safety devices do not provide a means for isolating the movement of inflatable portions of an interior component, such as a door armrest, from adjacent portions of the interior component. Moreover, use of foam bolsters and air curtains often presents vehicle packaging difficulties and may not represent the most cost effective approaches to protecting occupants of a vehicle.